Savor: April

This is such a season for savoring, and April brought many more moments to savor.

Because. . .of course! BOOKS!  Sharing book with family--even better!  I snapped a picture of Alan reading Robinson Crusoe to the kids--I love how engrossed they are.  And Tyrell "reading" to Aryana was too precious to resist.

I got to go to another Beth Moore conference with my sister and my sister-in-law.  This is such a great annual tradition, a time of renewal and great fellowship. . .

and laughter.  Always lots of laughter.  (I totally busted Marcy stealing Andes mints from the bathroom of the fancy restaurant.  giggle)  And Shayla and I introduced Marcy to sushi.  I KNEW she would love it!!!

I so treasure these girls, and our relationships!

A first with our friends, Troy and Caren, we tried out a local movie theater that serves a meal during the movie!  How FUN is that?!

More savoring with Kiana, she read her first chapter book ALL BY HERSELF--a Magic Tree House tale.  She was SO tickled.  She has also been having some fun experimenting with her hair.  She wanted to get it straightened, so I let her get it done (no chemicals, just a flat iron).  It was cute, but I like her curls better.  She did too.  She was soon in tears, "I miss my curls".  I'm glad she decided she loves the curly hair the Lord blessed her with.  treasuring. . .

I'm so thankful for Kidan who occasionally pitches in to help me with a hairstyle.  She is so much faster (and BETTER) than I am, and this style was particularly cute.

And finally, Destry's last concert as concertmaster with the Des Moines Youth Symphony, his last high school performance.  After all these years of running him to lessons and rehearsals. . .

savoring. . .

Savor: March

Since this post was sitting in my drafts folder, I will go ahead and post this reflection of what I savored in March. Once again, it was mostly about relationships (with a big accomplishment thrown in). 

Friendship.

I am a friendship sort of person.  Some people don't seem to need many friends, but I do.  I thoroughly enjoy my people, and this month I got to savor some special moments with special people.

Dear friends John and Amber and their children spent a weekend with us.

My friend Misti made a pitstop on her way from Delaware to Montana.  We were both so excited to spend the evening together that we couldn't even look like semi-normal people!

"Make new friends, but keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold."

John and Amber and Misti have been friends for many years.  But I am also savoring the development of newer friendships.  Tami, left above, is a new friend and I am treasuring our growing friendship.

I pulled together a few other couples and we did one of those nights where an artist walked us step-by-step through painting a picture.  It was an absolute blast!

 Neither Alan nor I have a gift for painting, but we had a lot of fun and I treasure this memory.  The "lovebirds" hang above the sink in my kitchen.

A night out with the kids to eat sushi.  

A rare Sunday afternoon with just my big kids.  We slipped out to watch London Has Fallen, a one-guy-takes-on-100-and-wins sort of action flick.  These two are busy living their own lives, which is as it should be, but I savor the moments they share with Mom.

And finally, I treasured Kiana's excitement this month as she joyfully announced that she just read this story in a Highlights magazine ALL BY HERSELF!  Learning to read has been challenging for her, but she didn't give up, and this was her first experience with the joy of reading. I had to snap a picture as I savored this moment with tears in my eyes.

Savor: February

February was a great month to practice "my one word": SAVOR.

I think Destry is beginning to realize he won't be living here much longer, and he is being more deliberate in spending time with his younger siblings.  I treasure the moments I see him spending purposeful time with them reading books. . .

or playing card games.

My children can be the best of friends, but they can also push one another's buttons without mercy.  I savor the times I see sibling love:

Big sissy Kiana chose the girls' outfits for the day. . .

 Easton and Tyrell played happily with airplanes. . .

Easton, Kiana, and Tyell played "picnic".

A stomach virus hit our family in February, and while I can't say I appreciated it, it did remind me to appreciate our general health.  I also just had to grin that even when Mom is sick on the couch, she is still the best place for a sick boy to lie, and the preferred place for a wiggly almost-two-year-old to perch.

I am delighting in this man and in our marriage.  We got to go on the Love Like You Mean It cruise again in February (maybe I will get around to posting about it someday. . .) and my very favorite part of it was the relaxed time spent with him.

We also got to enjoy time on the cruise with these dear friends--John and Wendy and Troy and Caren.  Friendship is ever so precious to me!

I love to dwell on the relationship my two big kids have.  While Briana was visiting one day, she regaled Destry with stories from her two jobs and I sat watching them, dwelling on their laughter and joy.

 As residents of Iowa in the year of a presidential election, we enjoyed getting to caucus for the first time.

This son of mine is so weird and crazy and fun and loving. . .I'm savoring these moments of spontaneous, neck-choking hugs before he goes off into this big, wide world.

And this spunky, ornery, delightful not-such-a-baby-anymore. . .

And finally, I "tasted and enjoyed completely" an evening at Johnny's Steakhouse to celebrate the 20th birthday of my daughter in the wonderful company of my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and daughter.

The word savor is just perfect for this year!

Savor: January

I have a goal this year, to record a few things I savored each month.  I meant to do this earlier, but hey!  We're still in the first week of February, so it's not too late to record January's savorable moments.

Savor:  taste and enjoy completely, enjoy or appreciate completely, 

especially by dwelling on it to delight in

Friendship is very important to me, and I got to savor some wonderful moments with great friends  Misti and Caren (ironically, they seemed to involve food too!).

My baby is growing up, but has had a couple days this month in which she just needed extra mommy time.  I chose to savor the moments and reverted to babywearing.  She loved being up on my back.

Tyrell is doing a great job learning to read, and thinks he is teaching Aryana to read with him. She repeats everything back to him just as he says it.  It is about the most precious thing I've ever seen.

Savoring. . .

My dear, dear friend and sister-in-law, Marcy, and I slipped away for a fine. dining. experience!!! (With the accompanying price tag! whoops and giggle) We had a wonderful evening of sharing and recharging which I savored immensely (and yes, I savored that Sashimi Tuna as well, mmmm!).

Puppies. How the children loved on those puppies in January before they went to their new homes!  So sweet.

Briana came over for supper one evening and was bombarded at the door.  So precious.  Savoring these moments of sibling love.

Destry and Kiana parked on the heat register reading Odyssey magazines together, ages 18 and 8.  Knowing this time next year Destry will not be living here and I won't see these precious moments.  Savoring. . .

My One Word: Savor

After reading My One Word, I settled on "savor" as my word to focus on in 2016.  It really isn't the word I thought I would choose.  I narrowed my list of sixteen down to three words, benefit, free, and savor, and continued reflecting on them.  I found many, many verses in the Bible that related to benefit and free, and few verses came to mind as I thought about "savor". But as I thought about WHO I want to be and HOW I want to be, as the book instructed, the word savor just resonated with where I am right now.

Savor means:
taste and enjoy it completely,
enjoy or appreciate completely, especially by dwelling on it
to delight in

 As I considered my goals for 2016, I knew I wanted to do better at savoring the Lord.  "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!  Blessed is the man (or woman) who takes refuge in Him."  Psalm 34:8

I want to be more consistent in spending time in the Word, to desire it, to relish and savor it, to hunger and thirst for it.

I want to "set my mind" on the things of God, first and foremost.  I remembered that Jesus rebuked Peter (in Matthew 16:23) for not savoring the things of God.  As I looked up the Greek word there, I saw that it can be translated "to exercise the mind, entertain, be mentally disposed to, set affection on, savor, think."

This leads to other areas I need to savor.  I want to better savor and appreciate my husband and our relationship.  It's a busy season, and it's easy to take him for granted.  I am purposing to enjoy him.

I want to savor this season, even in all its busyness and the many challenges that come with it.  This is Destry's last year at home.  Having an 18-year-old son is challenging, but it won't be long and he'll be out on his own.  I need to savor this last period of time I have with him.  Aryana is my last baby.  It's an exhausting season, trying to homeschool with a busy little one-year-old who is into everything and needs constant training, but it won't be long and she'll be a big kid too.  I want to delight in her antics and innocent joy.  I even need to be better at enjoying homeschooling in general.  It can become wearying, day in and day out, with fifteen years behind me and looking at seventeen more ahead of me.  But one aspect of this word "savor" seems to carry with it a sense of contentment and gratitude.  It's a choice, choosing joy, choosing to savor the moments.

I even found the word "savor" to complement my desire to get healthier this year.  I've made some changes in my diet (no Pepsi so far this year!), am implementing more exercise, and I've lost ten pounds.  I have many more to go, but I am trying to replace this idol of food in my life with more appropriate savoring--or cravings.  I am learning that I can actually enjoy and savor food more when I'm making wiser choices.  Hunger is, after all, the best seasoning.  I want to make the best of this stage of my life.  I'm not getting any younger, and I might as well feel the best that I can feel now.

I'm looking forward to seeing what I learn and how I grow this year by focusing on savoring in these areas.  I am tucking little reminders around my home to remind me to SAVOR, and I hope to journal throughout the year about how focusing on this word and attitude affect me.

My One Word, Part One

My One Word: Change Your Life With Just One Word by Mike Ashcraft

I've heard of the idea of choosing a word for the year instead of making New Year's resolutions, and when I saw a blog post that recommended this book, I decided to get and read it as 2015 ended and 2016 began.

The author says "We're so busy with the surface-level things of life that we forget to number our days and tend to our hearts." In an effort to live intentionally, he chooses a word for each year that he focuses on and tries to seek the Lord about how he can grow in that area. "Each year, that's my goal for my one word. I want to train my eyes to look at my world--all of it--through the lens of my one word. I need to lean to see differently, if I am going to live differently."

To sum up the process he outlines in his book, which I tried to follow, I first spent a few days brainstorming words in areas I thought I needed to grow in. I did the exercise of listing words to describe WHO and HOW I want to be. I prayed about the words, looked up exact definitions for several of them, and looked in a concordance and my Bible reading verses that addressed several of those words. Then I narrowed my list down to three words and journaled about them in my Bible journal, writing the definitions, how they would apply to my life, and copying several Bible verses that relate to them. Finally, I settled on my "ONE WORD" for 2016. It's not the one I thought I would choose as I started the exercise, but it's the one that's resonating with me. (In case you're wondering, my word is "savor".)

Continuing through the process he outlines in his book, I still need to find ways to post this word around me to remind me to think about it and be on the lookout for ways I can learn and grow in this area. He also strongly encourages people to journal throughout the year about what the Lord is teaching them in relation to their word and how they are growing. "It is grievous to have a fresh insight from God, neglect to write it down, lose it forever, only to recall that it is good." "I am convinced that our struggle to see God at work in our lives is not a result of his lack of work, but rather of our lack of attention to it."

I like many of the ideas in this book, and I like the way he ends each chapter with questions for reflection and assignments. I also like the way he shares stories and examples of words other people have chosen and how it helped shape their perspectives of the experiences they had in that year. On the other hand, I must admit I got tired of reading the book and I got tired of the author's voice, but I do think I got some good ideas from reading it and I look forward to seeing how this exercise affects my year.